1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to personnel and cargo nets and more particularly to rescue nets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rescues at sea are often accomplished by helicopter. If, for example, a person or persons are floating adrift due to the capsizing of their vessel or due to some other calamity, a rescue helicopter can be quickly dispached to come to their aid. The helicopter, upon arriving at the scene, will often lower a personnel or cargo net for the victims to clamber into. Unfortunately, the victims often have difficulty getting into the net, particularly during rough weather and high seas. Thus, more often than not, it is necessary for frogmen to jump into the water and assist the victims into the rescue nets.
The present need for frogmen in helicopter rescue missions is disadvantageous in that qualified frogmen may not be available at the time of the accident and that the frogmen take up room in the helicopter that could be used for the people being rescued. Also, the frogmen rescue technique is rather slow to the detriment and danger of the victims.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,325 of B. Pugh is illustrative of a personnel and cargo net that might be used in a helicopter rescue attempt. In his patent Pugh describes a net having a lower spreader ring, an upper spreader ring, and netting extending across the bottom of the lower spreader ring and between the upper and lower spreader rings. A pair of voids in the netting extending between the rings are providing for loading and unloading cargo and personnel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,827,745 and 3,165,346, also of Pugh, describe similar nets with the exception that the lower spreader ring is covered with a solid, floatable material.
A problem encountered when using a net such as Pugh's for a sea rescue mission is that the net must be at or near water level for a person to enter the voids in the sidewalls of the netting. Obviously, if the nets of Pugh were submersible the victims would not be able to enter the net except by diving underwater. To keep the net at the surface of the water the bases of the nets described in the two later patents issued to Pugh are solid and floatable. As mentioned above, frogmen are often required to assist the victims into such nets.